A Mass to Console in Troubled Times Like Haydn’s, Like Ours

Kent Tritle and Musica Sacra in Haydn’s ‘Lord Nelson’ Mass

Haydn’s “Mass for Troubled Times” seems a fitting work for these tense pre-election weeks. Also known as the “Lord Nelson” Mass, Haydn wrote it in 1798 shortly after Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile. Haydn composed the work without winds, since Nikolaus II, Prince Esterhazy, his patron, had dismissed the wind players in the court retinue because of financial woes.

Kent Tritle, one of New York’s busiest choral conductors, led the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra in an exemplary rendition of the mass at Alice Tully Hall on Monday evening. The choir sang with beautifully shaped phrasing and dynamics throughout, sounding particularly lovely in the Sanctus.

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Musica Sacra The soprano Susanna Phillips on Monday with the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. The program included Haydn’s “Lord Nelson” Mass, Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” and Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate.”Credit
Jennifer Taylor for The New York Times

The soprano Susanna Phillips and the mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano were the radiant soloists in the work. In vocal elegance and expressivity, the women outshone the men soloists, the bass Charles Perry Sprawls and the tenor John Tiranno.

Ms. Phillips, who will sing Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera this season, also offered an exquisite performance of Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate,” essentially a concerto for vocal soloist. Singing with agile coloratura and impressive high notes, she shaded phrases with myriad colors and imbued this showpiece with an intimate intensity. Mr. Tritle seemed genuinely thrilled as he gazed at Ms. Phillips as she took her bows to enthusiastic applause.

Anna Shelest brought a fiery sensibility and warm touch to the piano solo opening of Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” whose theme evokes the famous melody of his Ninth Symphony, composed 16 years later. Soloist and orchestra collaborated effectively for an energetic rendition that highlighted the improvisatory character of the work.

This fantasy is often derided as second-rate Beethoven, especially in light of the far superior Ninth Symphony. But the esteemed British musicologist Donald Francis Tovey took a more favorable view, asking, “Why should one not feel kindly to the child who is father to such a man?”

A version of this review appears in print on October 25, 2012, on Page C8 of the New York edition with the headline: A Mass to Console in Troubled Times Like Haydn’s, Like Ours. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe